very ergonomic. >> thank you. >> looks like fun. >> careful, sara. >> coming up tomorrow "1600 penn actor" with us. i'm jim cramer. welcome to my world. u need to get in the game. stearns are going to go out of business and he's nuts, they are nuts, they know nothing. i always like to say there is a bull market somewhere. "mad money," you can't afford to miss it. hey, i'm cramer. welcome to "mad money." welcome to cramerica. other people want to make friends, i'm just trying to make you a little money. my job not just to entertain, put it in context,ch and educate. call me 1-800-743-cnbc. all right. sometimes you just have to don the old bear costume, put yourself in yogi's hat or gentle ben's boo-boo's paws to understand this market. the dow roaring 85 points, and nasdaq climbing .59%, happy days here again. it's one of those days.

see, we're always trying to understand the coloration of the market. but sometimes we literally can't do so unless we go to jelly stone national park and get all ersine about it. why? well, think about when you own a stock and something terrific happens but the stock goes down anyway. what do you think? what goes through your mind? perhaps you say maybe the news isn't as good as we thought. or perhaps i got to do more homework. maybe this news was already baked into the stock and that's why it didn't go higher. however, it's far more likely that you would be emotional about it. you would say, i give up. all that homework, all that good news, all those positives, they didn't matter. this just must be a horrible moment for the market, and it is a huge bear phase. that's where we are right now. huge bear phase, and i'm not going to buy anything until this phase ends. in fact, i'm a seller. okay, let's turn that whole thing on its head. how about if you are short a stock of a company that had its product splashed all over the

front pages and the nightly news because it's faulty, because it catches fire, because it could be disastrous. how about if you were betting against a company where the most important product it has is being taken out of service because of its danger to humans and the buyers of your product are furious at you because you are costing them millions of dollars a day. how about if you're wagering a stock is going to get crushed and you wake up to find the biggest product recall in history, mandated by the most important safety agency on earth? how much would you make betting against that stock as a short sell? you think stock would be down 5%, 10%, 20%, maybe cut in half? pretty realistic, right? how about if the stock is bowing and it actually rallied on the faa ban today? almost a dollar for heaven's sake. the faa news turns out to be a buying opportunity. what would you say if you were short this tire and it rallied 10% during the hideous separate of bad news about its jumbo

dreamliner and the stock only couple points off the 52-week high? you know what you would say? you'd throw up your hands and scream, i give up! go buy the boeing back. but if it isn't going to fall on this horrendous parade of bad news, what in the heck is going to bring this down? what kind of superpowerful bull market is this? and how can you afford to stay short, when the next thing isn't about another fire or grounding but about a fix for the detective lithium-ion battery. think about it. puzzle through it. the plane is grounded for heaven's sake. there will be no bad pictures, no more smoking planes, no more people sliding down chutes because the darn plane is now out of service. out of service planes do not catch fire and do not have chutes that let people slide down to escape with their lives. no. the next thing you hear from boeing, they have a new battery source and ready to retro fit, bring it on, ready to fly. and thanks to the strength of the global economy no, airline

can afford to cancel an order with boeing. jumbo rival airbus sold out for years. and you can't get back in the queue with boeing if you cancel. you will be stuck with older, less fuel efficient planes to deal with a higher priced oil environment when you can fill every seat you have and then some boeing, which should be the single greatest short of our lifetime, frankly, actually rallied 92 cents today. a bear's worst nightmare, which, of course, is there for the single best possible dream. for a bull. now, let's extrapolate the boeing story. we were supposed to have a horrendous, hideous economy. those guys real downers. why? because confidence is way down. because washington's gridlocked. it's horrible down there. president, republicans, care less about the economy. supposed to be crushed, absolutely annihilated about worries of the upcoming debt ceiling, and decimated, laid to waste by the end of the tax holiday.

rich people stopped dead in their tracks by new tax hikes. one so steep we were supposed to switch to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pbjs, rather than dining at three-star restaurants. pass the skippy, keep the foie gras. we find out we had the highest housing starts since the boom, climbing 12%, double where we were not that long ago. while analysts were determined to tell you the housing is about to go tepid. numbers don't fit into the scenario, not a negative one and that's the story of the market right now the bullish facts are getting in the way of the bearish story. now, i will tell you on any given day, we're capable of a serious swoon and we are due for one. holy cow. maybe dow and intel not so hot tonight can cause one -- sell, sell, sell! this feels like a moment like the mid-1980s where the bulls are in control, ala boeing today. it seems like when i was a young, curly haired kid.

at goldman sachs. calling them rich people. finding myself to be incredibly bullish when the world was bearish. i remember seeing larry tyche, ran lowe's. all that hard work you're doing is paying off. you can get an audience with an investment titan, even though you had just started not that long ago at goldman. he heard i had a hot hand. he want to know what i was thinking. he wanted to know what i was buying. i went in, trying to remember. a bunch of stuff. i went in, and i said -- not facetiously, mind you. i said, i like coca-cola at 90. and he said why? i know the story ice cold. used to sold cold cokes at veterans stadium, but my reason can be encapsulated simply. because stocks that trade at 90 go to 120. he laughed. i thought he would throw me out of his office.

just started shaking his head ever so wisely. callow youth. nice to meet you. i saw him not so much longer, i said i was impressed with merck, new anticholesterol drug. unlike coca-cola, it's at 90. all 120 stocks are going to 90. he was nice. he didn't have the heart to tell me what a raving lunatic glad hander, and not long, he invited me back to my office. merck went to 120. all he said is, what's next? all i said was, 3m, then waste management, and pepsi, coke, reebok. 90, goes to 120. anyway, at a certain point i knew i had a good run. and ridiculous, and what mattered was i identified the animal spirit that would lift stocks when everyone figured it would be a matter of time that the market collapsed. it did.

a few years later, the crash of '87. but in the interim we made a ton of money buying stocks at 90, it meant they would go to 120. coke, pepsi, whatever. it was insane. but it happened. just like boeing happened today. just like chipotle could get hit and the stock rallies 10 bucks today? just like asml, semiconductor equipment company i follow, reported a nasty horrendous number but not nasty and horrendous number to stop buyers. buyers rushed in and rallied to a 52-week high. here's the bottom line. if you put yourself in yogi's bear pads, hey, boo-boo, what's going on in jellystone national park? if boeing didn't go down on the biggest product recall in history, you have to be fearful of betting against any stock. and heaven forbid if boeing which closed at 75 trades to 90, because stocks that trade to 90, you know the rest of the

sentence. all right. how about dante in massachusetts? >> caller: hi, big massachusetts minute man booyah to you. >> i'll give you a patriots booyah, they're pretty good. go ahead. >> caller: i'm wondering with all the issues at boeing, if the sector transdigm wouldn't be better? >> we decided to sell the boeing. couldn't say the headline risks. technology is doing swimmingly. united technologies, honeywell, all make a lot of sense. i bless the trade and the investment because it's a multiyear cycle. jake in new york. jake? jake? hit me! >> caller: jim cramer, how are you doing today? >> couldn't be better. how about you? >> caller: i'm doing pretty good. i'm calling about panera bread today. i hopped on the stock's bandwagon and i think it has fabulous growth potential. but in light of yesterday's news from chipotle that food costs are rising, do you think the growth is sustainable and

whether this stock is a buy in 2013? >> let's distinguish that. chipotle was expensive stock. both are expensive on price per earrings basis but not on growth basis. panera said repeatedly there's very little inflation pressure on their particular products. right now, both up a lot. but panera is less expensive with chipotle with a better growth path. so there you go. joey in florida. joey. >> caller: hey, jim. what are your thoughts on usac? it's been underperforming since going public. should i put my money in something like this or cvr refining? >> i like cvr refining. my friend dan dickert, knows refining stocks better than anybody comes on cnbc, he says that's the one. i'm going to send you there. i trust him. and i like holly frontier and fillet. i think that -- i think cv is for you. any given day, the market is capable of pullback. but bullish backs are given the bears a pretty hard time and

making it a pretty tough time for those who are trying to make a bearish bet. "mad money" back after the break. coming up, job opportunity? economic optimism is hoping to tick down unemployment across the country. but as the payrolls rise, so do the stocks of staffing companies. be careful. not all these recruiters are cut from the same cloth. cramer identifies the right candidate, next. and, later, herbal cure? some of the street's most recognizable money managers are engaged in an all-out wary over shares of herbalife, but as this stock market soap oprah plays out in the limelight, are investors missing a more profitable picture occurring backstage? stick around, cramer clues you in. don't miss a second of "mad money." follow @jimcramer on twitter.

have a question? tweet cramer at #madtweets. send jim an e-mail to madmoney@cnbc.com. or give us a call at 1-800-743-cnbc. miss something? head to madmoney.cnbc.com. have given way to sleeping. tossing and turning where sleepless nights yield to restful sleep. and lunesta®(eszopiclone) can help you get there. like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don't drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. lunesta should not be taken together with alcohol. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations, or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression,

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how to play guitar; ran ten miles while knitting myself a sweater; jumped out of a plane. finally, i became a ping pong master while recording my debut album. how you ask? with 5-hour energy. i get hours of energy now -- no crash later. wait to see the next five hours. last week i introduced you to my top ten themes for 2013. and tonight i want to tell you about a red-hot bull market. it's getting a major boost from one of these themes.

i'm talking about the incredible rally in the temporary staffing companies. companies that provide temps to other businesses and how it's being fueled in part by the pending implementation of obama care next year. which is one of the themes i told you about last week, the government made me do it theme. the staffing companies are in flago right now. and i think they'll stay that way for the rest of the year. the reasons? some has to do with anticipation of the obama health care act, which i'll talk about this in a minute. they are ultrasensitive to changes in the labor market. temporary employment is more cyclical than regular labor market. temps are the first to get fired in a downturn and the first to be hired when the economy comes back. and coming back is exactly what the economy is doing right now. ♪ hallelujah just today we saw the jobless claims drop to the lowest level in five years. >> house of pleasure. >> plus, while full-time

employment was only up 1.4% in 2012, the total number of temporary employees increased by 6.2. that rapid growth is expected to continue in 2013. the street is looking for 5% growth in temporary employment this year. however, i think that number could ultimately end up being conservative thanks to the affordable care act. aka obama care. once that goes into affect in 2014, companies that employ more than 50 full-time workers will either need to provide their employees with expensive health care coverage or pay $2,000 to $3,000 penalty. that's why businesses of all sizes are searching for ways to cope with this law, and the easiest way to avoid paying these expenses is to hire more temps. see, to qualify for health care coverage under the affordable care act, they have to work for 12 months. they are more likely to hire temp employees. you will try to have fewer than 50 full-time employees so you don't have to rely on obama care.

and small businesses aren't alone in not wanting to cover health care costs. if you are a larger business, you'll be much more likely to hire temporary workers rather than full-time employees to avoid paying more for health insurance. even though obama care only kicks in starting in 2014, did you know companies need to start making these adjustments now? because the law has what's known as a 12-month look back or measuring period for the purposes of figuring out how much each company will be on the book for. that means 2013 is going to be a great year for the temporary staffing business. the question is, how do you play it? commercial staffing companies that connect companies with lower skilled workers, companies like true blue, kelly services and manpower and staffing companies that provide workers with higher level skill sets like robert heff on assignment and resource connection. we want the higher skill plays. we have a massive skill shortage in this country.

even though the job market is far from being in good shape, there is still high demand for skilled temps. people with information technology skills, accounting skills, engineering degrees. plus because they're harder to recruit, they carry higher margins for the staff willing companies. the way i just said that makes it sound like these firms are involved in human trafficking. so let me explain how this business works. when a staffing company ge a temp a job with one of their clients, there is a spread between what the employer pays and what the temp receives, so the employer might pay $22 per hour, but the temp would make, say, $18 an hour and the staffing company gets to pocket the $4 spread. with higher skilled workers, that spread, which some of you might have heard of this weekend, is called the vig, is larger. so we need to choose among the three high skill staffing plays robert half on assignment and resource connection. all three companies are predominantly focused on the united states but we want to

focus on those that cater to smaller companies. that narrows it down to robert half and on assignment. which both focus more on smaller companies. and within this little group, i would say robert half, rhi for you home gamers, is by far the best of breed play. it has some of the highest gross margin in the industry, 40%. and on assignment and resource connection are in the mid-30% range. plus, i think robert half has the strongest growth opportunities. the reason? this company focuses on providing accounting staff as well as back office support workers and information technology specialists, i.t. these are the kinds of jobs that are not crucial to a company's core operations and that means there's a higher chance they'll be outsourced to temporary workers. hence, why this is the fastest growing category in the industry. on assignment more focused on the health care sector, look there could be some upside, with

the work created by the implementation of obama care. it doesn't have the same growth prospects as robert half. how about the numbers? the valuation? we always have to check all these things. robert half trades at 19 times earnings. resource connection, not in the same league. selling for 16 times earning, substantially lower at 13.5% growth rate. you know how important i think growth rate is. when you take growth rates into account, oddly, because it's best of breed, robert half is slightly cheaper than on on assignment and resource connections. even though hands down i think it's a superior company. of course, this is the problem. all right. the stock's on a run. a big run. up 26% in the last two weeks. and flirting with new highs as we speak. but i think this move has only just begun. what am i going to do? robert half could go much, much higher before it gets really expensive. so here is the bottom line.

temporary staffing companies on fire courtesy one of my top ten themes for 2013. companies trying to deal with the implementation of obama care. and i think this rally, i think it's early. and i think robert half is by far the best way to play it. after the break, i'll try to make you more money. coming up, herbal cure? some of the street's most recognizable money managers are engaged in an all-out war over shares of herbalife. as this stock market soap opera plays out in the limelight, are investors missing a more profitable picture occurring backstage? [♪...] >> i've been training all year for the big race in chicago, but i can only afford one trip. and i just found out my best friend is getting married in l.a. there's no way i'm missing that. then i heard about hotwire and i realized i could actually afford both trips. see, when really nice hotels

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if you watch the show for let's say more than just the last six months, would you know i used to have michael johnson, the ceo of herbalife on pretty often. simply because they make money. there have been questions, accusations about the way herbalife makes its money. questions about where the company's products, its nutritional supplements, actually end up is it a multilevel marketing corporation? a distribution business where people are paid to get more distributors and not to sell the product to individuals? a scheme so to speak? or is it up and up seller of much loved seller, delicious, potentially weight-reducing

supplements using a nonretail method of distribution? that is, individuals who try to sell the product one-on-one or in a nice club-like setting. lately i haven't been featuring them, the fundamentals of a company are a side show to a much bigger battle, a battle between hedge funds. we've got one saying the company is basically a pyramid scheme, that has no business being in business. and another hedge fund manager says it's a legitimate business, and the stock is darn cheap. >> buy, buy, buy! >> the bashing hedge fund manager has waged a war using our air and everyone else's, too, to say herbalife should be at zero. and any authorities need to put this company down, like the dog that it is. ackman short 20 million shares and he is adamant the company will not survive once everything about it is known.

in the other corner of this business section boxing match, is dan lowe, manager of third point, like ackman, runs billions of dollars and as of the last filing owns more than 8% of herbalife. even though it has had a magnificent move. who do i sympathy right? who i think is right? you know me. i don't care. i avoid battlegrounds like the plague. don't buy. don't buy. and i want you to avoid battleground too. why? because they are dangerous places that cost me a lot of money over the years. they will dot same thing to you. that's what they do. in the last few days, i'm thinking the balance of power in this battle has shifted toward loeb and the longs versus ackman's short bid. herbalife declined today, 1.54 on an up day for the market after herbalife announced better than expected earnings. what's happening? why am i not dissuaded?

the accusation that it's one big pyramid scheme is the need for some entity in the u.s. government or maybe state governments to take up the cause. i don't think that the stock can go to zero, ackman's price target, unless the justice department attempts to shut it down. ackman accumulated his short position and then came on the air to declare the company is a fraud. it's clear that ackman himself needs to have the help of the government to make those charges matter. he can't do it himself. he can't shut the company down. i don't think he will get one powerful enough to stop herbalife's growth, maybe slow it, but not stop it. considering how the company is doing, a bit of a slowing down may not even matter. the justice department, ever since it shut down arthur anderson at the time of enron by indicting the firm has never gone after an entity, a real company, with the idea of wiping it out and causing thousands of jobs to disappear. which is exactly what would happen. the s.e.c., i don't think they

will take the kind of action that ackman needs or wants. as for the s.e.c., i believe it simply wants as much disclosure as possible, and i think herbalife is already doing that. i don't think the s.e.c. will find anything that can be referred to justice for criminal prosecution. so my view is that ackman has a very weak ally, weak partner in the government. even cnbc's own herb greenberg, in a fabulous documentary that you can see online, sellingthedream.cnbc.com, has raised legitimate and i think frankly troubling questions about herbalife's business practices. but loeb has powerful allies and they are real. carl icahn has taken a stake in herbalife, and so company the state of play. ackman has a fickle, potential ally in some entity of the government not nearly as motivated as he is to take action against herbalife. and loeb has carl icahn.

someone with plenty of capital to buy more herbalife if it suits him. that's all well and good. a battle royale between rich people over herbalife. here are the fundamentals, that's where i come in, right? herbalife is making a ton of money making supplements, particularly overseas, and the ceo has done an amazing job of making distributions arm in south america and mexico. where it's like selling weight watchers, nutritious, good tasting, helps you lose weight. that's a terrific pitch. the numbers say it's resonating. you can argue that tactics that the company uses, uses a nonretail format that rewards people selling it to other people, including those who sell the product to others may not be your cup of tea. you could also argue that the company admitted today that ackman's attack is costing it money. costing it expenses. they could be elevated as it defends itself. that's bad.

you have to factor in the possibility that the publicity could hurt the recruitment of additional distributors, at least in the u.s. i don't think they're following it that closely in south korea. doesn't look like it's happened yet, or at least not materially so. you cannot argue the company is doing poorly or not executing well. this morning's preannouncement irrefutably that herbalife is raking it in. you can't argue that they need cash or hurting for distributors or getting killed by bad publicity. that ackman has generated. which brings me to perhaps the most important point of the story, the value that i can add to it. because herbalife has a ton of money and because the cash flow is strong, ceo michael johnson can buy stock back in the open market, hey, look, even take the darn thing private. it used to be private. if he wanted to. and in two days, he will be able to return to the stock market. that's the s.e.c. law, with $1 billion authorization to start purchasing shares hand over first. he's only used a small portion of that. company is no stranger. six years ago, had 145 million shares.

now only 108 million shares. and 8% is owned by loeb and 20 million shares short by ackman. that means johnson is capable of bringing in an ally of monsterous proportion. the mechanics of the stock market itself. the buyers in the stock market are able to take stock and put away. the short sellers have to borrow stock from the owners to sell it, and then hopefully buy it back for a profit. if the shorts can't borrow the stock first, they will be forced to cover, wall street speak for buying it back, and closing out the position. i have been in that position, as a short seller, where i couldn't find stock and the broker doing the trade literally went into the open market, bought the stock back that i had shorted and closed out my short position at much higher prices than i shorted it at. it was vicious. it crushed my quarter. but it was legal. i was helpless to stop this activity because i was short. i couldn't find the shares to borrow to those who were buying

it. hey, it's against the rules. if loeb and his allies buy stock and if johnson steps in with that aggressive buyback from herbalife, i believe the same thing that happened to me could happen to ackman, a real squeeze, and that's a terrible situation for any short seller. is he not in control of his own destiny. none of this would matter if herbalife was doing poorly. losing a huge amount of money, it could go bankrupt, as any company that loses money for a long time. they get wiped out by losses. but right now, that's clearly not the case. yes, it's true, ackman might be able to attract justice department interest. that's not likely. and a gigantic class action suit brought by dissatisfied distributors and former distributors saying they were misled by the company. i don't know if that really accomplishes ackman's goal either. some congress people, call it hearing, investigate company's practices, could be a yawner. in the end, this battleground comes down to the government, as an ally, versus the unfriendly mechanics of the market and fundamentals, that contest, i take the side of the mechanics

and fundamentals any day of the week. here's the bottom line, with herbalife, the company itself has just become a giant trophy for hedge fund. they can be as feckless and fickle as they want to be. loeb could decide right now, watching the show, you know what? i'm going to blow ow of that out of the stock in a moment's notice. he can declare victory tomorrow in the next swoon. none of the things can be gains. you need to approach as a spectator only. if the financials really did matter, and right now they don't because of the egos involved, i would be a buyer not a seller. and herbalife has firepower. icahn has firepower, loeb has firepower and ackman only sold a lot, and maybe could sell more, and he could cause the short squeeze i still feel 23 years after that near career-ending event. the nasty buy in on my short. and if it matters, a year later, the stock i was short, a bank, they closed. yeah, just closed. went to zero.

i was right, but i never got the promised land of profit. scott in new hampshire. scott. >> caller: hi, jim. a warm booyah from snowy new hampshire. >> i'm liking that. i'm liking that. i wish kyle was here to participate. he loves to sky. how are you? >> caller: send him up. you recommended dole foods, in the process of selling its worldwide packaged foods in asia, fresh. stock price dropped since september. do i sell, hold, or buy more shares? >> i don't think it's that bad. i was surprised that the stock got hit as hard as it did, and i am inclined to be a buyer, not a seller. i would buy dole, d-o-l-e. randy in california. randy? >> caller: randy from the cappernick coast, first time caller. long-time subscriber. thanks for calling my call. >> go ahead, i need to run this down. >> caller: deep in the money calls, and wondering if i will get a bump or a dump after the january report?

>> i'm betting this one will bring home the proverbial applegate bacon or some bacon that is actually, you know, no preservatives because i believe hain is inexpensive and i believe irvin simon is money. the stock is hideous, but it doesn't mean the company is doing poorly. if it wasn't for this battleground, herbalife would be a buy. but right now, strictly a spectator sport. listen, man, you're watching new england play the ravens. just enjoy the game. don't get on the field. lightning round coming up next. so, we all set? i've got two tickets to paradise! pack your bags, we'll leave tonight. uhh, it's next month, actually... eddie continues singing: to tickets to... paradiiiiiise! no four. remember?

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it is time! it's time for the lightening round. and i tell them buy, buy, buy, sell, sell, sell. and when the time is up the lightning round is over. are you ready, skedaddy? max in new york. >> caller: jim, what's going on? >> i don't know. what's shaking with you? >> caller: big new york city new york mets booyah for you, baby. >> i'm a big fan of wright. i will give that to you. >> caller: how do you feel about solar city? >> i was very negative until i pulled up for a drink at frankie's, heath ledger's old hangout. a guy said to me, you want to

buy a solar play? you should buy. i think this company say good company. i'm not kidding, i think it works. nicholas in illinois. >> caller: hey, jim, a big windy city birthday booyah. it's my birthday. thank you for having me on. >> i like coffey smith more than the new guy, what do i know? >> caller: west port innovations, i am wondering what you see happening going forward? >> i like it as a speculation, i do believe having natural gas is a surface view. fuel vehicle is years and years ago unfortunately because our country doesn't embrace it. let's go to ed in minnesota. >> caller: hey, jim. >> what's up? >> caller: lakeville. i wanted to ask you about amrn. what do you think about that stock? >> i think too much hot money in it.

the people @jimcramer will hate me i say that. too much hot money in it. when you go @jimcramer, accuse me and not my family of all sorts of bad things. let's go to ray in connecticut. ray >> caller: hey, jim. a good booyah from pleasant valley, connecticut. a good yankee one. >> oh, man, i'll see you in pleasant valley and i'll raise you hartford. go ahead. >> caller: united technology. >> united technology, speaking of hartford, wow, speak of the devil, or actually the angel. i think that stock is terrific. one of my favorite stocks. trying to build a big position. for actionorders.com. my charitable trust. you can play along. the best play in aerospace other than honeywell. no offense. your stock is fabulous, too. jerry in new york. how are you? >> caller: hi, jim. how are you? >> real good, how about you? >> caller: good, thanks. big booyah from syosset, long island. >> beautiful out there. i love the island. i'll be there shortly. just got to be a little warmer. >> caller: i'll be sure to see you again. >> you bet.

>> caller: can you give me your thoughts for chenier energy. >> 17, 18. when you get to that point, can you pull the trigger. i want to make this point, it's had a big run. stock had a big run. joe in massachusetts. joe? >> caller: yes. >> patriot booyah. >> caller: hi, jim. listen, i want to give you double big booyah. listen, i watch your show all the time. i watched you do an interview with opko health care. thanks show i have a 35% gain. booyah! would you think this is a sign that opko diagnostic is getting closer to approval? from the fda? >> i think it's a sign that dr. frost believes in his company as i do. and i endorsed it @jimcramer on twitter. took a lot the heat on twitter. i say the stock is going higher. don't chase, the stock was languishing and when it pulls back is when you want to pull the trigger. let's go to joe in illini.

>> caller: first time caller. thanks for taking my call. i'm looking at chevron texaco. i'm actually long some of the february 115 calls and i'm curious if this stock has enough oomph to go from 117, 118, up to 120. >> that would not be the contract i'd be used. i would use the february 105s. stock big upside. otherwise i worry it would get there at the time of the march expiration, unless there is a sudden spike at the suez canal, and then it will be there in no time. i hope it doesn't happen. that's the conclusion of the lightning round. >> the lightning round is sponsored by t.d. ameritrade. we're sifting through your e-mails and tweets @jimcramer #madtweets. stick around. your question might be answered on the air.

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>> time for some housekeeping on monday, jeff from nebraska called with a question on irwonwood pharma. irwd for you home gamers. i did some homework. it is an exciting pharma play that launched a drug that is designed to bring relief to people who suffer from irritable bowel syndrome. it's run up 20% year to date in anticipation of a launch. that's incredible. ironwood reported on wednesday beating the street's expectations but with this small speculative pharma stock, we can't care about how the actual stock is doing. and it's slightly lower than expected. it could have a lot of potential. tens of millions of americans suffer from irritable bowel sin sin syndrome it's too early to

tell how well it will do in the marketplace. the massive rally of the last two weeks, let it cool off. it might be too hot to handle. if you want a drug stock, i say stick with pfizer, lots of possible upsides in the pipeline. next up, last night, bill in wisconsin asked me about a stocky hadn't checked on a very long time, senterus. i took the knee, ala peyton manning, went for the extra time. it's a small specialty biopharma company, two products on the market to control blood sugar in patients with diabetes 2. and a drug for ulcerative colitis that just got fda approval this week. and it only trade at a slight premium to growth rate.

i'm willing to give the stock my blessing, even though it's up very quickly. only for speculation. it can still run ahead of the colitis drug launch in march. this product looks exciting. i liked the stock seven years ago. like it now tweets. david spitsberg cpa. he asks any reason why the only major home builder stock was down? it was up a huge amount. this is all about taking over where it came from. it's been a monster performer. i prefer almost every other home builder to it. pulte home won the stock super bowl. the second tweet from andy. he says, complete comment on nordic american tanker, what to do after the dividend crash. i don't like nordic american tanker. liked it for a while and the tanker business got really bad. we walked away from it, and i think it's probably with the dividend slash, seems like it's a bottom, i think the worldwide economy doing better.

but we said that dividend would have to be slashed one day. he's doing his best but what a terrible business. i think the business -- that might mark a bottom that dividend cut. wow. here is a tweet from @shab 27 who writes what do you think about prudential? they are expected to have strong earnings per share growth this year. i think it's good. i used it for my charitable trust but i decided the bigger bet should be on aig, which is a much less expensive stock than pru. i would buy aig at 35. much more than i would buy pru. another tweet from sbmct, says darden restaurants, worthy of more homework dividend portfolio or don't waste the time? darden is not well run right now. and i believe buying it and not worrying about the dividend would be too risky. i think you should stay away from darden. we need a couple quarters of turn and we haven't seen it at all. this next tweet comes from @karen.

do you think dump some company s.o. and find another good dividend but more upside action? >> i think southern is a great company. and so, like the stock. "mad money" back after the break. i played a round of golf.id in the last five hours? then i read a book while teaching myself how to play guitar; ran ten miles while knitting myself a sweater; jumped out of a plane. finally, i became a ping pong master while recording my debut album. how you ask? with 5-hour energy. i get hours of energy now -- no crash later. wait to see the next five hours.

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time to unwind one of the biggest trades i have seen in some time. the buy the big banks and sell the small ones trade. for the longest time, the large mutual funds have been buying up the bank of americas and citigroups and selling them to smaller regionals, the bbts, first horizons, c-corp. the thought? the big banks are extremely undervalued versus where they have traded in the past and the regionals are hostage to the mortgage markets and interest rates are so low, they can't make much money lending for homes anyway. i think we're seeing the big unwinding of that trade. first today we got some real ho hummers, not so great numbers from bank of america and citigroup. bank of america, still after all of that, litigating all over the place. had to laugh today when the third bullet point in the bank of america release, total litigation expense, 0.9 billion, 5 cents a share. holy cow. that's a real highlight.

the bank of america is a law firm masquerading as a lending institution. benjarvus, green-ellis, merrill lynch. citigroup, still has a ton of dicey loans and not unlocking reserves, company is very conservative, not ready to return capital to shareholders, not yet. and you who knows how new management feels about emerging markets? the former ceo, that's what made citigroup special for me, but when you sack the cheap proponent of the go global strategy, and you put in a conventional banker, what does that say about the entire fund of the investing thesis? very little. these two come on the heels of numbers from jpmorgan and wells fargo. but the action so to speak in the stock market is about the regionals. wells owns 30% of domestic market. getting stronger every day. bb & t and citigroup, the numbers not that much better

than the big boys. it's clear they are being rewarded instantly with higher prices because they are perceived as excellent, clean, noncontroversial ways to play the housing recovery, which we are seeing, almost a million housing starts. and they seem to be in better shape whether it comes to regulators and legal wranglings and clearly able to make more money than the money centers as a percentage of growth when things get better. more money, fewer problems and are getting better as kelly king said on "closing bell" a couple hours ago. how strongly i feel about this? i'm confident that first horizon, terrific regional bank in tennessee, which has consistently delivered good numbers and not rewarded at all with the higher stock price at the time bank of america is rewarded, will finally get the credit it so sorely deserves. my charitable trust is now selling some wells fargo because it feels played out. swapping to a large position in key bank. cleveland based bank which reports next week. i'm considering telling you, oh, boy, that synovus, 2.60 some odd cent stock, it still owes

t.a.r.p. money, makes sense to buy. not because i love them. but large banks and the beginning of an affair with little guys will take synovus with it. this move is real. it's still in its infancy. this one's not too late to start participating in. and all i can say is, it's about time! stay with cramer! before the sneeze, help protect with a spray. before the tissue, help defend with a wipe. before the cold & flu season, help prevent with lysol. because when you have 10 times more protection with each hand wash... and kill 99.9% of germs around the house with each spray... those healthy habits start to add up. this season, a good offense is the best defense and lysol has your family covered because that's our mission for health.

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look, it should cool off tomorrow. intel, not that great a number perform at&t with negative stuff after the bell about margins and some pressure and some smartphone subsidies. so, you've got two dow stocks that aren't that good. so, i also think that the big cap bank stocks are due for a rest and a pullback. that's a bunch of cohorts that could be down. that said, stock will go to 90. they've been going to 120. what i'm saying is it's a very bullish environment. so if we do sell off, i want to yoy